To leave my 7.5 year old home alone today?

[brewbrewbrew]

She's off school as the bubble are isolating and I had school runs to do today.
Was fine for the morning run as dh was here but not for the afternoon one.

I drive a 7 seater car and had been given a curtesy car for the day. This car only has 5 seats and I needed 6 if dd was going to fit in.

I couldn't do anything else at short notice. The others were at school and needed collecting.

I spoke to her beforehand about the dangers and what to do if x or y happened, explained she could use Alexa to call my mobile also if there was a problem. I was gone about 15 minutes in total.
Even if I'd have walked (which isn't so close) she wouldn't have been able to come to the school with me as they've sent the bubble home. But at least next time I can leave her in the car if needs be now we've got the big one back.

I came home and she was where I'd left her, on the sofa watching tv lying down on her iPa

Is this awful of me? I feel so negligent.

The most likely thing to have happened thinking of worst case scenarios is you having a car accident and getting seriously delayed etc. Does anyone work in safeguarding and can reply to say what would you do if the police reported a mother who did this (following a car accident?)

@CarinaMarina

You did what you had to do in extraordinary circumstances, and it all worked out fine. Now you're beating yourself up because you're a conscientious mother and you know that in normal circumstances you wouldn't have done that.

Stop, take a breath and draw a line under it. She's OK, everyone's OK. Don't be judged by MN!

This...you did what you had to do at the time....next time you will be confident to leave her again.💐

@ANGELFACEXO who would you report her to? The police? She broke no law.
Social services? They wouldn’t care. There are 7 year olds who run homes for sick parents, or she have parents who can’t or won’t look after them. They have better things to be concerned about.

Relax @brewbrewbrew you did what you had to. I’ve done it in an emergency once, she didn’t move and didn’t care. You know your child.

@MoonJelly presumably walked. Which would be fine with a non-isolating child.

I cant believe the hysterics on here! YANBU only for asking on here, knowing how mental ppl are with this.

When I was a child, not crazy long ago, as Im mid twenties, I walked to school and back home at age 7!!!! SHOCK Horror! Call the police now! Only, everyone else in my class did too! Its normal in many countries! Gosh ppl here are batshit.

@Lessofallthisunpleasantness ironic name by the way!

My dd has anxiety, spd and ocd tendencies as a result of medical trauma, rather than an over anxious mother passing on her fears. So not so similar to you know being afraid of dogs. Separately she has an existing medical condition that means no we wouldn't leave her unsupervised as she wouldn't be able to give herself her medication if she needed.

So yes possibly unusual as you put it.

I do though have an older child that wouldn't have been comfortable either at 7.

The idea of a video call is a good one though who ever came up with that as a work around for them.

My two have both been fine to be left for 15 minutes at 7. School is just under a 5 minute walk away. So a pick-up/ drop off is about 10-15 mins. My DCs have often ended up with different times due to sports clubs and interventions. They are much happier to stay in than be lugged backwards and forwards umpteen times a day. They are regularly reminded about what to do if there is an issue. Whenever there's been a petty incident somewhere like a playground they've always been level-headed about dealing with it.

Not all children are ready to be left at that age, but some are. Childhood is a process of building experiences and learning gradually.

Angelface I was thinking of what was most likely to go wrong (if something did) that OP hadn't thought of/couldn't control when discussing the risks with her child.

It's not ideal, but it was for 15 mins in an emergency situation. She was fine.

I might have done the same.

@ANGELFACEXO me thinks you've been on the sauce hic hic

[quote OwlBeThere]@MoonJelly presumably walked. Which would be fine with a non-isolating child.[/quote]
She does say she couldn't do that due to her sciatica.

I'm not blaming her, I'm just curious.

No, I wouldn't. You should have called the school ahead and tried to get someone to drop a child off

@ANGELFACEXO, I suggest you familiarise yourself with the MN rules around making personal attacks.

@ANGELFACEXO wacko backo then...? 😵

People saying what if something happens to Mum when shes out, it would be incredibly rare for someone to become unconscious and can't tell or phone someone to say DD is home alone.

Do you have the same worries about an alone parent falling down the stairs knocking themselves out while in charge of a baby?

I remember watching an real life ambulance program, and the DM falls or something in the street, a passerby calls the ambulance, she's still able to tell them through the oxygen mask to look for her DD who's 21 with downs.

What is it with the sensible answer being avoided
...... Leave a child home alone? Or Say 'fuck it' to the isolation rules. Isolation rules do not conquer a child's safety in this situation!!